Is eating raw meat dangerous?
Do you sometimes do this too: you cook steak, but first cut off a raw piece to try it? Or do you taste the raw meatballs that you just prepared to put in a soup? How bad is raw meat for our health?
Anja Daems asked Dr. Devroey in De Madammen on Radio 2: “People often make meatballs for soup from raw pork and they can contain eggs of parasites, worms and tapeworm, for example,” explains Dr. Devroey. “This is a worm that can grow to a meter long and can give you a lot of stomach ache. A lot of meat can contain parasites, but pork is very typical for this.”
Be careful
It's important to be careful with raw meat. “Any meat can be contaminated with bacteria. With beef, the bacteria mainly remain on the outside, so if you cook it, the meat is safe. When you cut it into carpaccio or tartare, it's raw meat and bacteria can remain in it,” says Dr. Devroey. “So it's very important to prepare it fresh. If it's left out for too long, bacteria can multiply and you can become very ill.”
“If it's not left out of the refrigerator for too long, there is no major problem,” says Dr. Devroey. “The longer it's out of the refrigerator, the longer it remains at room temperature, the greater the chance that bacteria will develop.”
Barbecue meat: be careful!
Are you going to barbecue with friends and family? Be careful! “At a barbecue, the meat often gets warm when it is already cooked. Then, there's a big chance that bacteria will develop on it,” says Dr. Devroey. “Meat from a barbecue that has already been cooked should not actually be stored.”
Difference between meat and chicken?
“With chicken, the bacteria are often much deeper in the meat and that'ss why it must be cooked through,” explains Dr. Devroey. “This applies to all poultry and not just chicken. You can get a salmonella infection if it is not cooked properly. Which will give you a serious stomach infection. But you can also get fever, diarrhea or muscle pain.”
For people who are weak, raw meat can actually be fatal, says Dr. Devroey. This concerns people with weak immunity, people over 85 and young children. Pregnant women should also be careful of the toxoplasmosis that can be potentially be found in it. This can cause a miscarriage or premature birth.
Did you know this?
If you eat a 500 gram steak at a restaurant, you have actually eaten meat for a whole week!
(MH with Skwadra by Tagtik/Source: Radio 2/Illustration picture: Pixabay)
